Obverse

Reverse

Inscription of three lines, a decoration above. Border of dots.

ΝΙΚΗΤ,ΟΤ,Μ.ΔΙΚΙ

Νικήτας ὁ τ(οῦ) Μ[η]δικίου

Translation

Νικήτας ὁ τοῦ Μηδικίου.

Niketas, the abbot (?) of Medikion.

Commentary

It is not clear which position the person mentioned on this seal held. Was he an abbot? Or would this seal be a kind of talisman distributed in remembrance of the second higoumenos, Niketas, who was venerated as a saint? If so, why not say on the seal that he was a saint?

The monastery of Medikion, to the south of Trigleia (modern Tiriliye), was founded in 780 by the monk and homologetes Nikephoros (d. 813). He was succeeded by Niketas who was imprisoned for his resistance to Iconoclasm and died in 824. In the eleventh century, ownership of the monastery passed for a short time into the hands of Michael Psellos. The cult of the founders was kept alive, as is shown by the name Ἁγίων πατέρων, by which the monastery was known later. See Janin, Grands centres, 165-68; ODB II, 1328. See also no. 59.13 (BZS.1955.1.4942).